Monday, 13 April 2015

Pirelli Bahrain Grand Prix Preview

Pirelli will bring the yellow walled Soft and the white
walled Medium compound tyre will for the second race in a row at the Bahrain
Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit this weekend.

This will be the third time this season that this
combination will be used. The Sakhir circuit has the highest degradation rate
of all the circuit’s on the Formula One calendar with the exception of the
Jerez circuit in Spain which is used over the course of winter testing.

The start of each session at the event is often interrupted
due to sand blowing onto the track which reduces the grip levels on the circuit
as it is located in the Manama desert. Speaking about this weekend’s race,
round four of the championship, Pirelli Motorsport Director Paul Hembery
stated:

‘We have the same tyre choice as we did in China
for Bahrain, although there will obviously be a bit more temperature involved.
However, with the race taking place in the evening, conditions won’t be as
aggressive as they were in Malaysia – or even Bahrain two years ago, when the
race was still run during the day. A defining characteristic of Bahrain now is
that tyre performance changes over the course of the weekend as we slowly edge
towards afternoon sessions. Last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix had a thrilling
finish because of the safety car with 10 laps to go, leading to a great battle
between the two Mercedes team mates. It’s harder to know what to expect this
year – apart from the fact that it’s very unlikely to rain!’

Pirelli have stated that the performance gap between the
Soft and Medium tyre is between 1.5 – 1.7s per lap.